Fūjin: Chapter 1
A slow, breeze swept through the air as a figure wearing a dark cloak and a sugegasa strolled along the dirt road, drinking a bottle of sake. The weather was unbearably hot, causing the shinobi to drink even more of the alcoholic beverage. "Gah… this weather is unbearable. I wonder when I'm gonna reach the next town." breathing heavily as he started manipulating the air currents to cool himself off. This relieved him of the heat to some extent, though he was trying to conserve energy in the unlikely event that he was ambushed by thieves. The local area was also known to be prone to unexpected wildfires during these conditions, keeping a vigilant eye in case of this scenario occurring. Several hours have passed and the endless trail seemed to be leading nowhere, as well as the agonising heat rising to dangerously high levels, to the point of being able to cook even an entire tuna fish on a rock, which surprisingly the shinobi actually did. Summoning a whole fish that he caught earlier from a scroll, the soon to be delicious meal didn't take long at all to cook in the basking heat. "Heh... While this heat is freakin' ridiculous, at least I don't have to eat raw fish for dinner." He chuckled as he took a few bites from it before storing it back in the scroll, as well as taking a few sips of water. During this time, a fire suddenly ignited in a nearby tree, spreading quickly across the dry landscape. In a matter of minutes, a small flame managed to create an enormous firestorm that instantly incinerating everything in its path, including sadly, the extremely kawaii but parched forest critters. "Oh come on! This has to come in and ruin my day even further!? Well I better stop this hell of a freak fire before someone gets caught and turned to burnt teriyaki." He sighed as he manipulated the winds that were fuelling the fire and removed all traces of oxygen within' the flames, causing them to die down and the entire forest fire to cease. The man checked around to see if anybody was caught within' the hellish inferno. After a few minutes of looking, he found a man laying face down in the dirty dirt, unconscious and the burnt clothing revealing he was burned heavily all over his body. He rushed towards the man and asked him if he was alright, while at the same time, sending Yang chakra into his body. The 3rd degree burns he sustained were miraculously healed and he soon started to gain awareness. "Thank… you… for saving me… stranger." He slowly whispered. "You gonna need rest old man. I already applied treatment and you're live as long as you get some rest. You can tell me everything tomorrow." looking down at the old man as he obliged and went into a deep sleep. In the meantime, he would set up camp at the very spot they were standing on for the night. He used his earth release to make a cozy earth encampment, which not only would keep them cool from the hot sun, but also protect the two in the event of another wildfire. Nightfall came around and the once ridiculously high heat had died down somewhat. As soon as he finished starting the fire to provide light, the cloaked figure once again took out his scroll and summoned the cooked fish from earlier, which was still quite hot. After cutting the fish up into something that resembled cooked sashimi, he awoke the old man and provided him with the edible fishy stuff. The two sat around the campfire and started talking amongst themselves. "So old man, what were you doing in a dangerous place like this?" As the cloaked man ate into the fish. "Well, I was checking to see if any of the other parts around here were affected, as well as searching for food. I'm from a town not to far from here and lately things have been terrible. The whole town has been affected by an unusually strong heat wave and drought that's been lasting for a month now. Not only that, but the entire town was taken over by some rouge ninja and the civilians became nothing but slaves to them. The weather makes escaping that place impossible as the people are so malnourished that they'll die from thirst and starvation if they dare to leave. Honestly, this is the biggest meal I've had in a while. Thanks um… what's your name? I'm Akira Tōrashi." exclaimed the old man as he chowed down. "Hmm… so some rouges are taking over eh? Alright… since I have nothing better to do, I'll help get the village back in order. And my name…" as the man took off his sugegasa from his head. "… is Shiro Sentako." Shiro and Akira then started discussing various methods of bringing back order to the village, as well as ridding it of the rouge ninja. As the fire dimmed, the two decided to get some sleep, taking action at dawn. The morning sun rised over the horizon and the shinobi and old man awoke from the rather enjoyable sleep. Eating a freshly cooked breakfast of Ochazuki, the duo headed off to the barren mob town. It was worse than what Shiro imagined. All the buildings had falling into a state of disrepair, and the weather made the place entirely barren, with no sign of growing vegetation in sight. Things got even worse as he found malnourished corpses littering the streets, as well as some of them possessing wounds that looked like they were stabbed. "Well, looks like they've become food for the vultures now. I'm suprised you're still alive old man." said Shiro as he looked around to see if there was anybody who had an ounce of sentience. Suddenly, the voice of screaming was heard across town. Running towards its source, Shiro and Akira found what appeared to be a man harrassing a woman. "Ah! Let me go you filty pig!" shouted the woman as she struggled to get out of the assailants grasp. "Don't even think about struggling, you'll be my servant you filty bitch!" as he repeatedly hit the woman with his bare hand. In quick retaliation, the woman immediately kneed the man in the groin, causing him to hilariously fall down onto the ground in pain. Seeing Shiro and Akira, she limped towards the two and hid behind them as the assailant got back up on his feet. "Hey! You two assholes! Get out of my way!" shouted the assailant as he ran towards them, unsheathing his sword with the intent to kill the two. "My my, you sir have no manners at all when it comes to treating a woman." grinned Shiro as he let the assailant run towards him as Akira and the woman hid even closer behind him as he swung his sword down. To everybody's shock, the sword was stopped by Shiro's own finger as a gust of wind blew. "You do hear that right?… The sound… of the wind." Saying an oddly familiar quote as the assailant was slashed by an invisible force, incapacitating him greatly, to the point that he was unable to stand. "The damage you've substained will leave you unable to wield a sword ever again. Now…" barked Shiro as he grabbed and interrogated him for information. Obtaining what he needed to know, Shiro sent the battered man flying sky high, never to be seen again. "Looks like things really are crappy around here. From what I've gathered, the mob taking over this town are called the Asachi Gang, and their leader is known by the name Yomi. I'm not sure what their problem is… I'll figure that out later. More importantly, are you okay miss?" he questioned the young lady as he took out his bottle of sake and proceeded to drink it to cool off from the blazing sun. "I'm Haru... Haru Kitsuchi. Thanks for getting rid of that arrogant asshole. Um… what's your name?" she asked. "The name… is Shiro Sentako." he replied, adjusting the sugegasa he was wearing to block out the suns rays from his face. "Where the heck is everyone else?" Haru proceeded to lead him and Akira to where the rest if the villagers were. As they approached the slums, the foul smell of the overcrowded accommodations initiated Shiro's gag reflex. "The conditions are terrible. I've seen poorer people live better then this." he sighed, covering his nose with his clothing to block the overwhelming stench. "Gee… thanks for stating the obvious." snarked Haru as she narrowed her eyes. "We haven't had any rain in months. All the wells are dried out and crops won't grow. What do you think its like!?" Her stomach growled, looking slightly embarrassed. Shiro looked on as, feeling contempt for the woman, gave her his lunch of Onigiri that he had planned to have later, which she immediately proceeded to scoff down. "So you wanted rain huh. Why didn't you ask?" he asked as he twirled his finger around. In a matter of seconds, the clear blazing sky becomes blacked by dark clouds, which then proceeded to rain down on the arid landscape. Everyone looked outside in awe, which was then proceeded to cheer extremely loud, to the point of him having to block his ears. "That's amazing! At last, the village can get back on its feet. Are you a god or something?" one of the villagers asked Shiro. "HUH!? I CAN'T HEAR ANYTHING! WHAT DID YA SAY!?" said Shiro loudly, the loud cheering of the villagers caused him to become temporary deaf. At the top of a cliff nearby the village, an eerie figure watched over the town in the pouring rain. "So the village saw some hope after all. Whoever that person is, I'll kill them before they even have the chance to perform anymore miracles." The anonymous figure exclaimed as he flashed out of the location in a blink of an eye. Later that night, as Shiro was sleeping in an earthen encampment he'd already constructed during the day, he heard the noise of footsteps, stepping upon puddles and wet dirt in the pouring rain. He got up and went outside to find Haru staring vertically upwards, her face drenched from the water droplets. "What are you doing Haru?" yawned Shiro, having an entirely drowsy look on his face. "You're quite amazing Shiro-San. With you at the village's side, theres a chance… that things will return to how they were in the past. Only thing is… what if some other gang came by and took over. None of us are ninjas, we're just farmers who're trying to make a living." sighed Haru as she looked at Shiro with a blank look. "Well, if you want to protect this village Haru, I can teach you ninjutsu." he grinned as he was completely drenched by the heavy rain. "Really!? Thank you Shiro!" said Haru ecstatically as she started jumping in excitement. In the rain, Shiro began teaching Haru the basis of Ninjutsu as well as Taijutsu and Genjutsu. "Alright, one of main points of Ninjutsu is the five elements. Fire, Wind, Lighting, Earth and Water. Each one has a strong and weak point against another element. For example, Fire Release is strong against Wind Release because wind can fuel the flames to become stronger, while its weak against Water Release due to the water being able to put out the flames. Every individual has an affinity to one of those elements, while its said that when one has an affinity towards more than one element, they can create a new nature from those elements. This is called a Kekkei Genkai. In order to test what affinity one has, ninjas use a special type of paper that when chakra flows through it, the paper, depending on the nature, reacts to it in a certain way. Fire makes it burn to ash, Wind splits it in two, Lighting wrinkles it, Earth turns it to dirt and Water makes it damp." Shiro explained as he created a roof made of solidified air above them to cover them from the rain. "Just so we don't have any inaccurate results. Allow me to show you." He took out a piece of paper in each hand, stuck between both his index and middle fingers and flowed his chakra through them, causing both paper to split in half. "As you can see… My affinity is Wind Release. But before we do that… we need to work on your chakra control." explained Shiro as he pointed towards the once-dried pond as it was now filled with water. Approaching the water-filled pond, Shiro taught Haru how to flow chakra to her feet in an attempt to learn the Water Surface Walking Practice to better control her chakra. After Haru failed a few attempts, which caused her to fall into the cold water, she was finally able to master walking on water, including walking on it without making any real attempt. "She mastered the Walking Surface Walking Practice rather quickly. While I can sense she has rather average chakra reserves, her chakra control is quite good despite never doing this sort of thing before. If she can work on her control, then she can compensate on her reserves without wasting too much chakra or getting exhausted quickly during a battle." thought Shiro as he continued observing his student's attempts. He gave Haru a couple more chakra controlling practices, including forming a sphere of glowing chakra to give her better control of chakra ratio to her techniques. As the two were busy with that, Akira watched them from a distance and grinned. "She always wanted to protect people, even when she was a little girl. With Shiro around, she can finally protect those she cares about. Her friends, family, even the entire village. It looks like that dream of her's has come true and its all thanks to him." he thought as he continued to watch from afar. "So the old man decided to come and watch huh. That's fine… I can really use an audience." thought Shiro, sensing Akira as he continued teaching Haru. After a couple of hours, Haru had finally mastered chakra control to a very high degree. With all said and done, the rain finally cleared up and the dark clouds dispersed, leaving the full moon and the stars fully exposed for all to see. "The stars are much brighter here then where I live… must be all that light pollution affecting the stars visibility." said Shiro as he took a glance at the night sky. "It's quite beautiful… anyways Haru, I'll teach you Ninjutsu next… then Genjutsu and Taijutsu last. Here." he said as he gave Haru two pieces of the special paper he had earlier in each hand and told her to flow chakra through them. In seconds, the paper Haru was holding both split in half, confirming her affinity was towards Wind Release. "Both of the paper split in half. The same as you Shiro. That means I have the same affinity towards Wind Release as you do." said Haru. She was lucky that she shared the same affinity as Shiro as he was rather prodigious towards that very nature. "I see... So this makes things rather easier for me." Shiro chuckled as he put his hand on Haru's head. "I'll teach you Wind Release Haru." as he patted her on the head. Looking on with glee, like a teenage school girl. Haru let out a big squeal, as she viciously hugged Shiro to the point of suffocating the man. Regaining his breath of fresh oxygen, Shiro showed Haru the process of "sharpening" her chakra, an aspect usually associated with Wind Release. After a couple of hours, Haru was able to somewhat get the hang of it, firing some concussive shots of wind which shattered a nearby rock. "Well this is decent. Mastering nature transformation is rather difficult, so I wouldn't be surprised if you didn't successfully execute it. Work on your formation Haru and the results will improve." Shiro looked on as the girl concentrated and formed the wind waves. Her results started to steadily improve as Shiro previously said. In time, she was able to utilise the Blade of Wind, a relatively simple wind technique which allowed her to cut foes. A brief montage later, Haru could blow away her opponents on a somewhat small scale as well as able to flow wind chakra into bladed weapons to increase their sharpness. "I think that's all I need to teach you in Wind Release Haru. Just keep working on them and as you grow stronger, so will your skill. Now onto the next test… Genjutsu." Standing 10 feet away from each other, Haru looked on at her sensei wondering what the hell he was gonna do. In that very instant, Shiro formed the seal of confrontation. The surroundings suddenly became white all around, with no discernible things out of place. It was literally as clear as a sheet of paper. "Where are we?" she asked hoping he'd answer. "You're under my genjutsu Haru. Here, I can make anything happen such as creating a field of flowers to summoning meteorites. This realm is my canvas." He said as he created a flower from thin air and gave it to his student, who looked rather confused as she slowly took the illusional item. "Genjutsu occurs when the opponent controls their targets flow of chakra to affect their five senses, causing them to experience things that aren't really there. One way to counter genjutsu is to temporary disrupt and restart the flow of chakra within' your body. Another one is experiencing something that isn't part of the illusion, such as pain to bring the senses back to align. Out of the two I just mentioned, the later is more effective, as well as being rather simple to do." As he formed a kunai in his hand and stabbed his own air with it, causing Haru to look away from that action. "Of course, there are some genjutsu which can paralyse you, in which case the former will be required to break it. She if you can disrupt your chakra flow to escape this realm." Shiro grinned as he looked at his student comply with a nod. Closing her eyes, Haru disrupted her chakra flow and restarted it, causing the white realm to disappear. As she opened her eyes, she'd returned to the real world as Shiro gave her the thumbs up. "Alright! Meal time! The next test you'll need a lot of energy, so we'll have a break to recuperate." "Alright! I'm starving, I could literally eat a horse." said Haru as the two took to the encampment. As the two entered the compound, they found Akira dozing off in a chair. He eventually got tired from all the late night training so he decided to take a quick nap. As Shiro cooked the meal of Sukiyaki, the delicious smell awoke the old man and pretty soon he was after it like a dog to a bone. "You're awake old man, had fun with your nap?" asked Shiro as he continued cooking the irresistible foodstuff. "*Yawn* You guys sure were training hard. I'm surprised she didn't drop." the old man replied as he patiently awaited for the meal. "Gee… thanks. Anyway lets eat!." Haru looked on ecstatically as she poured a lot of Sukiyaki into her bowl. The two men were suprised to see her eat the entire thing in one go and were shocked when she asked for seconds, then thirds and even fifths. Ok, she was starving due to the poverty stricken conditions of the village, but seriously!? After consuming all that food, the trio laid down on the floor completely satisfied with the delicious food. After half an hour, it was back to training and Akira was gonna watch the two go at it hand to hand. Getting into a combat-induced stance, Shiro gave Haru the signal to come at him with Taijutsu. Haru complied as she run up to him to deliver a powerful roundhouse kick. Shiro nonchalantly blocked the incoming strike with his left arm and immediately pushed her back. "Come on Haru. I know you can do better… That attack was easier to block than a guy even getting his chance with a woman." Shiro looked on as he anticipated Haru's next course of action. "Hehe… I'm just getting warmed up Sensei." grinned Haru as she cracked her knuckles and her neck. She immediately charged straight towards him with a clenched fist, preparing to strike her sensei down. Appearing unfazed by the girl's attempts to harm him, Shiro sidestepped the punch as he watched her trip over a rock and fall face first into a puddle, getting entirely soaked in the process. Shiro looked at his student while she got up, seemingly finding the situation hilarious as he cracked a wide grin at her misfortune. "Don't focus on trying to hit your opponent. Focus on your enemies movements and find the right time to strike." Shouted Shiro as he got ready in a combat stance with his right arm pointing towards her. Listening to Shiro's advice, Haru ran straight foward towards him, though something felt different. Her previous attempts felt reckless while this one felt calm and controlled. She started striking her sensei with punches and kicks, which Shiro countered and retaliated. Shockingly, she blocked all his strikes without any error. The sparring turned into a duel of hand to hand combat as both blocked all their attacks while trying to land a hit on the other. Akira watched on in amazement as the attacks they were producing felt fluid, the very fighting felt like something one would recite in poetry. Suddenly, an eerie figure wearing a black mask appeared behind the old man and grabbed him, surprising Akira as the assailant tried to restrain him forcefully. "SHIRO! HARU! HELP!" He yelled, quickly getting their attention and seeing the assailant within' their peripheral vision. "Old man!" Shiro yelled as he ran towards the assailant with Haru in tow. "Hey you bastard! Let him go!" She yelled as they were nearing them. "Kukuku… you just had to scream you ol' bastard." whispered the dark clothed assailant as he threw some kunai laced with explosive tags towards the rescuers. Landing a few feet ahead, the tags detonated, generating a blinding explosion that formed a strong pressure wave, sending Haru and Shiro back. Quickly gaining footing, the smoke cleared to find that Akira and the masked assailant had disappeared during the commotion. "Shit! He got away with Akira." Haru coughed, to clear her lungs from the smoke "Now we don't know where they went." "On the contrary… I managed to use my sensing abilities to track their movement. They're 10 kilometres north-west." grinned Shiro as he wiped his mouth to clear the blood coming from his lip. "Lets rescue the old man." Shiro said as he and Haru ran towards the north-west direction. Approaching 10 kilometres on foot, a giant palace came within' the duos view. "This is where the old man and that other guy is. Wow… that's one huge ass palace." Shiro looked on in amazement as he continued to observe the building. "This must be the palace of the Asuchi gang. So it would be pretty obvious that they'll keep him captive there." Haru discussed the current matter with Shiro as she saw the palace guards within' her field of vision. "Looks like we're gonna have to sneak in somehow." Haru looked on as she continued observing the situation. "Indeed… its not like we can just use the front door. We'd get more attention than one of the kage, and make the rescue impossible. Luckily… I have an idea." Shiro grinned as he formed a couple of hand seals. A tunnel that led to the palace underground formed in-between their feet. He immediately jumped down into the hole with Haru in tow as they walked the underground road into the palace. TBA